Scientists there are beginning a $94 million project that will transform its plasma reactor into what officials say will be one of the most advanced in the world. It represents another step toward the holy grail of the clean-energy quest: fusion.

Fusion, of course, is as simple and complicated as the universe. When gases are heated to a degree rivaling temperatures at the core of the sun, the atomic particles bounce around and move at incredible speed. The hotter they get, the faster they move. Eventually, the nuclei collide and combine, ultimately fusing together.

That energy resulting from the collision fuels hopes that nuclear fusion could one day readily generate clean, cheap and abundant energy without the radioactive by-products of nuclear fission.

The National Spherical Torus Experiment facility upgrade, expected to be complete by 2014, will enhance the position of the NSTX as the world’s most powerful device of its kind for controlling the superheated and electrically charged gases — or plasmas — that create fusion power.

NSTX studies magnetic plasma fusion, capturing extremely hot plasma in an effort to contain it long enough for fusion to occur and produce enough energy. As Duffy reported, the upgrade will essentially double the power of the reactor by increasing plasma heat, electrical current and magnetic field strength integral to the process.
It represents a turning point in a 60-year pursuit.

“We’ve acquired an enormous knowledge base, an enormous depth of understanding of how these plasmas behave, and we’re ready now to go to the final stretch, which will take a while, to producing a commercial fusion reactor,” says Laboratory Director Stewart Prager.

The world awaits such innovation. Despite severe economic straits, every penny toward this research and practical application is money well and wisely spent. The scientists at PPPL are helping lay the groundwork for the future.

Of late, the move to tap vast stores of natural gas through the process known as fracking has commanded center stage in the energy debate. Even if there are safe and environmentally sound methods to access those supplies, those resources are finite.

As we probe deep within the Earth for our energy needs, we must also look to the stars and their cosmic echoes in Plainsboro.